WASHINGTON, DC— Top US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that
officials were likely to soon get the regulatory go-ahead to administer
COVID-19 vaccine booster shots made by Pfizer, although Moderna booster could
take a little longer.
اضافة اعلان
Asked on CBS'
"Face the Nation," about President Joe Biden's goal to give booster
shots starting September 20, Fauci said that "in some respects" that
remained the plan.
But he said that
while Pfizer-BioNTech has submitted the necessary data on booster shots to the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Moderna has yet to complete the process.
Fauci said he hopes to give both
vaccines when boosters doses roll out, but if
Moderna does not complete the process before September 20, then Moderna
boosters will be given later.
Moderna and the FDA
did not immediately return emails seeking comment. In a statement released
Wednesday, Moderna said it had "initiated its submission" of booster
data to the FDA.
How — or even
whether — to administer
boosters has emerged as a thorny issue as COVID-19
continues to kill unvaccinated people around the world.
Last month the
Biden administration announced it would start offering boosters to Americans by
September 20, usurping the process by which the FDA and the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention usually decide on such issues, current and
former FDA scientists and CDC advisory panel members have told Reuters.
Scientists are
still debating how much additional immunity boosters provide and whether all
Americans should get another shot, rather than just those at high risk of
severe illness.
Speaking Sunday,
Fauci emphasized that both
boosters were assumed to be safe, but that the FDA
and other officials would study the data to make sure.
"When you're
dealing with allowing the American public to receive an intervention, you want
to make sure you're absolutely certain," he said.
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